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Representations of Anglo-Saxon England in Children's Literature Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2004-12-15 Representations of Anglo-Saxon England in Children's Literature Kirsti A. Bobo Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Bobo, Kirsti A., "Representations of Anglo-Saxon England in Children's Literature" (2004). Theses and Dissertations. 228. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/228 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. REPRESENTATIONS OF ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE By Kirsti Ann Bobo A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of English Brigham Young University December 2004 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Kirsti Ann Bobo This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory. Date Zina N. Petersen, Chair Date Don W. Chapman Date Jacqueline Thursby BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY As chair of the candidate’s graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Kirsti A. Bobo in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library. Date Zina N. Petersen Chair, Graduate Committee Accepted for the Department Lance Larsen Graduate Coordinator Accepted for the College David B. Paxman Associate Dean, College of Humanities ABSTRACT REPRESENTATIONS OF ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Kirsti Ann Bobo Department of English Master of Arts This thesis surveys the children’s literary accounts of Anglo-Saxon history and literature that have been written since the mid-nineteenth century. Authors of different ages emphasize different aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture as societal need for and interpretation of the past change. In studying these changes, I show not only why children’s authors would choose to depict the Saxons in their writing, but why medievalists would want to study the resulting literature. My second chapter looks at children’s historical fiction and nonfiction, charting the trends which appear in the literature written between 1850 and the present day. I survey the changes made in authors’ representations of Anglo-Saxon England as children’s publication trends have changed. I show how these changes are closely related to the changes made in popular conceptions of the past. My third chapter discusses the way in which children’s retellings of Beowulf have placed the poem into a less culturally- dependent, more universal setting as they have separated the tale from its linguistic and cultural heritage. Children’s authors have gradually removed the poem’s poetic and linguistic devices and other cultural elements from their retellings, instead favoring a more courtly medieval setting, or even a generic universal one. Children’s literature is an important indicator of the societal values contemporary with its publication. Authors and publishers often write the literature to reflect their own ideologies and agendas more openly in children’s literature than in other literature. As I show in this thesis, the attitudes toward Anglo-Saxon England which pervade children’s literature of any age make it a particularly useful tool to those scholars interested in the study of popular reception of the Middle Ages. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My heartfelt thanks go to Dr. Zina Petersen, for being willing to take a chance on me, for helping me to see the light at the end of every tunnel, and for her invaluable insight into my ideas, writing, and life in general; and to Dr. Jacqueline Thursby for her meticulous care in reading over each of my chapters, and for her help in organizing my thoughts fluently and clearly. To my parents, brothers and sisters, and friends, who were always willing to listen to my praise of the Great Saxon Race, and who supported me throughout my research and writing: thank you. Words cannot describe my gratitude to Dr. Don Chapman, who first had confidence in my abilities and ideas as a scholar, who never complained at being asked to read just one more draft, who helped me to believe that my contribution might be valuable after all, and from whose honesty and friendship I have benefited more than he could know. Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 My Parameters ................................................................................................................ 2 My Contribution to Scholarship...................................................................................... 7 Chapter Two: The History and Trends of Children’s Historical Literature Written about Anglo-Saxon England.................................................................................................... 10 19th-Century Medievalism and the Rise of the Children’s Novel ................................. 10 Utilitarianism during the Golden Age of Children’s Literature.................................... 13 Edwardian Children’s Literature and the Courtly Ideal................................................ 18 Post-World War I and the Break from Victorianism.................................................... 22 New Realism and the Rise of Children’s Nonfiction.................................................... 28 The Return of the Historical Novel and the Saxons ..................................................... 34 Chapter Three: Beowulf and the Culturally-Fractured Tale.............................................. 40 The Separation of Beowulf from Its Linguistic Heritage.............................................. 41 The Separation of Beowulf from Its Cultural Heritage ................................................. 48 Beowulf and Multiculturalism....................................................................................... 55 Chapter Four: Conclusion................................................................................................. 60 Appendix A: Annotated Bibliography of Primary Sources .............................................. 63 Appendix B: Historical Subject Matter Covered in Children’s Literary Accounts of Anglo-Saxon England.................................................................................................... 80 Works Cited……. ............................................................................................................. 86 1 Chapter One: Introduction For the juvenile reader, entertainment is obviously a primary reason to read any literature outside of school. Juvenile trade books (non-textbooks) of all genres are written and produced with this fact in mind, attempting to depict the change and conflict of a character or culture in such a way that the reader is able to make connections to his or her own life. Those authors writing about historical figures and events face a particular tension as they recreate a culture or time period which has past, and is therefore foreign to its reader, while still maintaining a sense of “immediate modern significance” (Trease 24). The themes in children’s historical literature, appealing to the interests of their targeted audience, are generally closely tied to the popular and subconscious issues and trends that permeate the culture surrounding the literature’s time of publication. A more scholarly interest in children’s historical literature involves the study of how authors have interpreted past events and figures to make them appealing to modern audiences, and how these interpretations reflect their readers’ views of the past. Joan Blos writes that, in studying historical fiction, three time frames must be considered: “the story’s, the book’s, and ours. This is important because the facts of history are fixed, but the way in which those facts are understood will vary over time” (39). Anglo-Saxon England has been understood in particularly varied ways, being both connected to and different from the broader, more general medieval period that has generated and inspired so many perceptions and cultural uses since the time it came to a close. According to Paul Zumthor, authors who work with medieval texts and history have the ultimate goal of bringing “the ancient text into the present, that is, to integrate it into that historicity which is ours” (33). The way in which children’s authors have translated medieval 2 history into their own “historicity” has changed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as popular and scholarly attitudes toward the Middle Ages have changed. Looking at these changes, my purpose in this thesis will be to answer two questions: why would children’s authors draw upon Anglo-Saxon England for their subject matter? And, what relevance does children’s literature have for an audience of medievalists? My Parameters In writing a study of the connection between Anglo-Saxon and
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